It's never 6 AM here
by TheZorker
Summary: There's a new survivor in the killing fields, but he doesn't know how he got there, or even his own name. The others know, though, when there is a new survivor... there is almost certainly a new killer.
1. Lost

This story was created by _at_ _TheZorker#8648_ for the Dead By Daylight writing contest.

Any perks or add-ons described below are hereby assigned to Behaviour Interactive, and This Author will claim no rights to them.

Five Nights At Freddy's, Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy, Chica and Spingtrap are copyright Scott Cawthon, and are used because I really want to see them in the Dead by Daylight universe.

He _always_ comes back.

* * *

I woke up.

That seemed unlikely.

For the life of me, I don't know why I thought that was unlikely. I mean, most people wake up, right? But I wasn't sure where I had woken up. It was dark here, and I seemed to be lying on the ground. Dark, but not pitch black. I picked myself up and looked around. I was outdoors, I could see that. Wisps of black fog flitted past my vision, only partially burned away by light from an unseen moon. It seemed like it was some sort of junkyard, or at least it used to be, I could see stacks of tires, a few shacks, and what might have been a rusted school bus. But spread between those things were such high weeds and grass that it was clear that this place had to have been abandoned for years.

I frowned. How did I wake up here? I mean, I thought I had a good memory. Though, I supposed, I wouldn't remember if I had a bad one. I turned around. Behind me stood a large wall. It was a patchwork thing, metal it some parts, stone in others, like someone had either gotten creative, or maybe just had to make do with parts on hand. Not far from me there was a huge gate, big enough to drive a car through, which made sense. There was a lever (switch, really) next to it, and I pulled it experimentally, but to no great surprise, nothing happened.

I stood there, staring at this strange tableau for several minutes. Had I fallen asleep here? Why would I have done that? I couldn't remember anything that had happened before I fell asleep, either. I cast my mind back, trying to figure out the last thing I could remember. There had been an office, I was pretty sure of that. a man who had hired me for a job. A very specific job, setting up a Pizza Place. There was more to it then that, but I couldn't for the life of me remember anything more about it. There was something _special_ but... the details were escaping me. "Paragraph 4" he repeated at me. I frowned. What was his name? Henry? What was it about Paragraph 4 that was so important to him?

What was Paragraph 4?

Stymied, I checked my pockets, looking something, anything that would shed some light on the situation. Nothing, not even a wallet. Maybe I had been mugged and dumped here. That at least seemed to be consistent, though I couldn't think what I might have been doing to get mugged, either.

At that point, it clicked to me that I was alone. At night. Possibly recently mugged, without any way to call for help bar shouting. And shouting seemed like a particularly terrible idea. If I'd been mugged, and left to die, the last thing I wanted to do was to alert the muggers that I wasn't actually dead. I debated what to do for a few moments, then I decided to follow the wall. There had to be an office, or at least a wreck of one, somewhere, right? Maybe they'd have a phone, maybe it'd even be connected enough to call 911.

I made it about ten feet when I was confronted by another oddity, though just the sight of made me uncomfortable. It was a giant hook, hanging from a wooden scaffold. I walked over to it, and looked at the ugly thing. It was large, eye level, with a bright red stain covering the end of it. Something had been on this hook. Something had bled on this hook. I began to feel sick, had that something been _human_? What was going on here?

A phone. I had to find a phone. Something to get me out of here. I continued to make my way down the wall. In the distance, I heard a noise. Was it a scream? Were there other people here? I thought It came from my left, but ahead or behind? I couldn't tell, it had echoed, and it sounded like it came from everywhere and nowhere. Now I was terrified. What could I do? Office. I had to find the office.

Wait, what was that?

A flicker of light caught my attention. It was above me, in the yard. A nearby freestanding pole had a set of lights on it, and they were flickering. I hadn't noticed them a second ago, it must have just started. Was that some sort of signal?

I had to take the chance. I turned away from the wall, and headed toward to the light. Past a broken sheet of a car's windshield I heard, then saw, what appeared to be a large gas generator. One piston on it was humming and cranking, while the other three were still.

Sitting next to the generator, completely absorbed in her work was a dark skinned, dark haired young woman. She was pulling wires, reattaching pipes, trying to repair that generator. She didn't even look up at me."Good, give me hand with this," she whispered.

It wasn't an order. At least, it didn't sound like a command, but an expectation that it was the thing that had to be done at that moment. I blinked at her. "I've never seen one of these before, how do you want me to do that?"

My words must have taken her by surprise, because she stopped her work to look up at me for a moment, giving me a glimpse of a green apron, flowers and roots sticking out of one of her pockets. Her breath caught. "You're new," she whispered, her voice shook before she composed herself. "It... it's okay. It's straight forward, just time consuming. Just match the colors of wires. They always reach each other. It's when there's more than one that you get a problem, because if they're not put together right, the whole thing blows up in your face, and we don't want to make noise. But, trust me. We need to get this done, as soon as we can."

Well, alright? I walked to the other side of the generator, opened up a panel, and started working. Inside there were, as she indicated, a large tangled mess of colored wires, metallic pipes, and other things that seemed oddly familiar, though I couldn't say why. I started working on it, like I had done this one hundred times before.

As I hooked another pair of wires together, I looked up again. "What's your," I began.

"Shhh," she hissed back at me. "We have to stay quiet."

I was pretty sure I wasn't talking any louder than the generator in front of me was pumping, but I lowered my voice anyway. "Why?" I asked in a whisper.

"The wraith is trapped here with us. You do not want him to find us."

I stopped and stared, "Wait, we're trapped... with some sort of ghost?

"That's why we need to get these generators fixed, to open the exit gates. They're electric, and this one is almost done."

With the woman's final connection, the generator hummed to life. As it did, the lights above the generators flashed brightly. If there was something here, we certainly signaled it. I was about to run, when the girl grabbed me by the wrist. "Don't run. You attract attention when you run." She let go of my wrist, looked around, and pointed to another set of lights in the distance. "That way," she whispered. "Stay low, and stay quiet."

We crept through the stacks of crushed auto parts, over a small fence to the next generator. Once we'd started working again, I felt cleared to whisper. "Was that you who screamed, earlier?"

"No, that was Kate. She got away, for the moment. I already patched..." Claudette's nervous whispering was interrupted by a new scream. Male, I think. The woman stopped her work for a moment, turning to look to her right, right at a tall brick wall. But, and this was creepy, her eyes continued to track something through that wall. Could... she see through walls?

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked. "What's with the wall?"

"What? Oh, I forget that others can't... it's Ace. He's wounded. He was caught. Look, I might have to go find him. If I do, keep working on the generator. We usually need five of them." She met me in the eyes, her face pale. "And if you hear a bell, you run, and don't stop running until you think you've lost whatever was chasing you, then stop, start sneaking away some more."

I stared in disbelief.

"Trust me!" she said. "Do this, it's important."

"Alright? I guess?" I felt completely lost.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes not leaving the wall even as she go back to work. "You were about to ask my name. It's Claudette, what's yours?"

I looked at Claudette, my eyes wide and my mouth open like some sort of dunce. But I couldn't come up with anything. How could I not even remember with my own name? Surely, that was simple, wasn't it? But absolutely nothing was coming into my mind. "I... I don't know."

"You don't know?" she said, her volume rising in surprise for a moment. She looked up, examining me. "Well, it says Michael on your name tag, we'll go with that for now."

Michael? For a moment, it felt right, like it fit. Then I had a flash of memory, red ink in an a children's activity book. "Do you know what your name is?" and I was unsure again. But... Claudette was right. I could go with it for now. Wait. Name tag? I looked down, and it was true, I was wearing some sort of uniform. I couldn't tell where for, but I did see my name, Michael, stitched in blue, just above my heart?

There was another scream. Instinctively, I followed Claudette's gaze. I felt a shiver go down my spine, because this time I could see it. I was looking through the wall, at a bloody red outline of a body, lying in the mud. Through that haze, I could see a larger form of something humanoid pick up that body, and it disappeared from my vision.

"Finish that generator," Claudette implored me. "I've got to go get him."

"How? That thing has to be twice our size," I told her.

"You'll see," she said, creeping off in the direction I had seen the vision.

Fine. I continued to work, getting the second pump going. Before the third pump began to go, I heard another scream, this one the loudest of all of them. But in the distance, and again through the wall, I could see the large monstrous humanoid lift the body off his shoulder, and put it on one of those large hooks.

This time, the vision didn't fade away. I could still see him, hanging on that hook, limply, like a fresh cut of meat. I swallowed. I got back to the generator with new found motivation. Blue to blue, yellow to yellow, don't mix it up. I couldn't hear anything.

When the generator finished, I looked around. I had to make a decision. Did go and hide, like a coward? Did I find the next generator, as Claudette would have asked me to? Or did I go to see if this Ace person could be saved?

I crouched down, behind a nearby stack of cars to think about it. I thought it was my imagination, but, for a second, I thought I saw an almost visible... 'breeze' pass near the generator I'd just fixed. It was like an outline of a person, but it didn't stop, and didn't notice me. A second later, I could see, through the vision that still bled in my sight, someone pull the victim off the hook, and both vanished.

The insanity of this place had to be getting to me. How could I see any of that? I rubbed my head, and I rubbed my eyes, but nothing about my situation changed. Claudette's advice seemed to be sound, at least as far as I could test it. I guess I would start working on another generator. Though I did note that of the at least four people in here, I was the main one that seemed to have been actively working on the things.

I crept through the area, trying to figure out where the third generator might be. I heard another scream, and went flat. That one sounded female, had it been Claudette? I had no idea, and there was just no sign of any generators. That's when I realized I was being stupid. How did I find the first one? I saw the light poles. I looked up, saw a light pole not far away, and headed in that direction.

Everything was quiet, so I started the work. I'd gotten a pattern down, and was kind of in a groove. I should have reminded myself that overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer. Or that sometimes, it would blow up right in my face, as I realized a moment too late I was matching a blue wire with a deep purple wire. I was forced to turn away as it exploded brightly and loudly. I stared at that generator, wondering at that moment what I should do.

That's when I heard the bell, and I knew the answer. Run like my life depended on it.

Because it did.

My heart was beating in my ears. Thump. Thump. Thump. I stumbled slightly, feeling the thing's hot breath on my back, hearing the swish of something that just missed my skull.

My legs were moving faster than I could remember ever running before. My eyes scanned, looking for somewhere, anywhere, that might be safe.

There was nowhere to go, so I ran as fast I could, past stacks of rotting tires, over a small ledge. As I was climbing, the thing swung again. This time, it connected, I could feel his weapon draw blood in thick long gashes down my shoulder. I screamed in pain, and a burst of adrenaline drove me even faster. I glanced backward, for a moment.

Was he licking my blood?

I ducked behind a tree and kept going. What was it going to take to lose this guy? Past a small garage, I ran, and he simply did not give up. Wait... was that a locker? I hadn't seen one of those before. I opened it up, and quietly pulled the door in front of me.

I closed my eyes, praying to whatever Gods there might be that he wouldn't find me.

I saw him turn the corner. Too late I saw the pool of blood seeping from the locker door.

He stepped in front of the locker, turned to look at it.

I swear to god he smiled. It was terrifying.

* * *

 _Rare_ Michael Afton _Perk_ : _Legacy of Robotics._

Increase your generator repair speed by 1/2/3%, skill check chance increases by 15%. Stacks.

 _All of this seems so familiar._


	2. Found

The creature, his weapon still dripping my blood, ripped open the locker's door. He thrust that mace, or whatever it was, inside, just inches from my head. With his other hand, he grabbed me bodily at my neck, yanking me from the locker. I would have screamed, but he knocked the breath from me. He was going to kill me. I knew that for sure.

But I was wrong, at least, he didn't throw me down to the ground to cave in my head. He was carrying me somewhere. I struggled, pounding my firsts against his shoulder, trying to squirm free. But I might as well have been a small child, for all the good it did me. Just when I thought the monster's grip was starting to slip, we arrived at one of the large meat hooks.

"No," I whimpered. "Please. Please! No. **Don't!** "

My pleading fell on deaf ears. He sized me up, and impaled me through the the body with the hook. It pierced my flesh right below my right shoulder blade. This time, I did scream, and the sound echoed throughout the auto yard. In that instant, I felt hot, and the auto yard disappeared, engulfed in flames. Then they were gone, and I was staring down at the monster again.

The monster looked at me and tilted his head slightly. I think he was enjoying the sound of my screams. Then he lifted his bell, shook it so the clapper rung, and vanished. I could just see an outline, just barely, stalking off presumably looking for the other people. Once again, I was alone.

I had to force myself to take a second, take stock of my situation. I could still breath, though it hurt to do so. The hook must have missed anything vital. How that was possible, I wasn't sure. All I knew was it wasn't going to kill me. Not right away, anyway. I could wait until Claudette, or someone, got me down.

At least I thought that until the tendrils began to form from nowhere around me. These tendrils were hairy, belonging to some sort of giant spider. Except this spider was enormous and there was no body for the legs to be emanating from. They were connected to absolutely nothing. At least for the moment, they were materializing slowly.

But I panicked anyway, I reached behind me, managing to grab the upper part of the hook I was dangling from. I tried to pry myself up and off, but my hand slipped on the bloody hook, and I only got my stuck further. I screamed again, and now those spider legs were twitching in anticipation.

I realized that I hadn't completed the analogy. It was a spider, yes, but I was a _fly_ , struggling in its web. I froze immediately, except for the sweat, blood, and tears of terror rolling down my face.

What would happen when those tendrils were fully in our world? I didn't know. My eyes dated left and right, searching for something, anything that might help me. I saw them, the yellow glows scattered through the autoyard. They were human shaped. Two of them were crouched in the distance, working on something, and a third was slinking around, getting closer.

There as a 'clink' in the distance, and a burst of light illuminated a small area over my shoulder. I could see those two bright human glows suddenly splitting up at a run. A generator complete? Must have been. Had I been spotlighted like that? I wondered if that was how the monster had found me.

My attention was taken away by a reality piercing **snap**. The center stinger had broken through, and was ready to impale me with great prejudice. I caught it in my hands. It was strong, and I had to struggle and strain against it. I so did not want to die on that hook.

That third golden shape was creeping towards me. It was an older looking male, with balding head, beard, and dark enough sunglasses that I wondered how he saw anything in this gloom. "C'mon, let's get you down from there," he whispered, then he reached up, grabbed me by the waist, and hoisted me off the hook.

To my intense relief, the spider legs dematerialized. I felt my shoulder, knowing I should have a gaping hole where the hook had pierced me. But there was nothing, no blood, not even a hole. There was plenty of blood from where the creature had struck me, but not a single drop where the hook had been. I touched the skin tentatively, but couldn't even find the wound. I started at the other person, was he this "Ace" that Claudette had mentioned? But he was darting off the way he had come.

I followed for a little ways, but I was in such pain, and leaving such a blood trail that I had to just sit and catch my breath. I found a secluded spot in a corner with two crunched cars. The pain was crippling, and I was still leaving small blood drips behind me. A trail that anyone could follow, not the least of which this monster. At least, for the moment, it was quiet. I didn't hear any screaming.

What else could this place throw at me?

I hoped it wouldn't answer. You know, as a small favor.

I allowed myself another minute before I started moving again. It still hurt, I was still making sad puppy noises, but at least I could walk. There were three completed generators, right? And Claudette said we needed five, right? What was I waiting for?

I had to tell myself this two or three times before I finally acted on it. There was nothing to be gained by staying here. I kept low, and I kept as quiet as I went. A generator, could I find one? I saw the tall light post that signaled a generator and made my way toward it.

Except, when I got there, it was already active and chugging merrily away. Ugh. Upon a second look, the lights above it were actually on. I already was in pain, and now I just felt stupid. At least the monster would be unlikely to check to see if people were trying to fix a working generator.

I moved on, sneaking slowly, almost crawling through the yard. I thought I heard a shout in the distance, but wasn't sure, so I kept moving. Through the ruins of a building, climbing quietly through a window, I finally found that elusive machine. One of the generator's pumps was moving, though slowly, and it was sparking something fierce.

I knelt down next to it and started to work. It seemed like someone had kicked it rather violently, causing things to shift around. That wasn't helpful, so that had to be first thing corrected, then I could get on with the matching game. I kept it slow this time, no sense trying to rush and alert everyone to where I was again.

For a moment, I stopped, looking around. Had I seen the little wavy breeze of the monster? No, that was ridiculous, if he was here, he'd have been hunting me already. The chance of me seeing him, hearing him? I got back to work.

In the distance, I heard a woman's scream. I saw it again, that red bleeding through my vision. Someone up on a hook. I swallowed. I looked at the generator, and then that red stain far off in the distance. I had to make a choice, either go get her, or finish the generator. It was so far away, and this generator was powering my only way out, wasn't it?

"I'm sorry," I whispered to no one. Maybe there was someone closer. That was it, there would be someone closer. The third pump was chugging merrily, I was going to get this to work. Another half minute, and there was that satisfying "clink" of the final connection being made. The lights shone, and I beat feet.

But the woman was still hanging on that hook. And I could picture those spider legs that had been so close to taking out my heart, surrounding whoever that was, Claudette, this unknown Kate, or whoever it was.

So I did what I felt I had to. I ran, straight toward the hook. I didn't know how long she had.

But I heard the bell, and it was in front of me. I saw the monster materialize from nowhere, grinning at me. I reversed course. Over there! There was a small shack! I turned and ran towards it. There was a small window on the wall facing me, I dove through it, picking myself off the ground almost instantly.

For a moment, the monster was out of sight. That actually made sense, the monster was so big, that it probably couldn't easily get through the window. I looked quickly, there were two doorways. Which one was it going come in through?

I saw something that might be my salvation. Well, okay, so it wasn't a weapon. I wish it had been, something to give me a fighting chance against something that had proven faster than me. But even a wood pallet might help, It was just leaning against the frame of the shack. I broke towards it, and just about at the same time, the monster appeared on the other side. I gave that pallet a hard pull, and it crashed down right into that monster.

I felt a surge of jubilation and bolted back the other way. The sound of wood cracking was behind me, but I kept running. I had to find somewhere, anywhere, to hide. I sprinted, desperately, drops of blood trailing behind me, I got behind a free standing wall, and remembering the advice I was given, stopped running, started sneaking, and kept moving. I got behind another corner, and finally had to stop, out of breath. Nearby, I could hear the opening, followed by the slamming of metal doors.

No, I wasn't hiding in a locker this time. I'd made that mistake once. I wasn't making it again.

I had to hold my breath. If I kept crying out like this he going to...

Find me. I turned, looked up. He was standing above me. I rolled out of the way of the first strike, started to run. But I didn't dodge his second swing. His mace... thing... crushed into my back, knocking my breath from me, and the only reason I didn't die on the spot is that it, or something, was keeping me alive.

I fell to the ground, screaming in pain and terror.

He picked me up, and I started struggling. But it didn't help.

He brought me back to the shack. I thought we were going to go down the stairs, but we just passed through. There was a hook on the other side.

He hung me up. The heat was brutal, and I thought my skin was going to burst into flame.

This time, there was no anticipation, no struggling.

The spider appeared over me, and stabbed me directly, piercing my heart.

In my last few moments of consciousness, that stinger pulled me out of my own body.

I died on that hook.

I could hear vaguely, the sound of something metallic. The hook falling from his scaffold.

My body came off the hook, slumping to the ground under me

My consciousness. My spirit. My soul... was being pulled somewhere beyond even this nightmarish world.

* * *

 _Uncommon Perk: Slow & Steady_

Reduce your generator repair speed by 2% to reduce repair skill check chance by 5/10/15%. All Repair Skill Check Success zones are increased by 5/10/15%. This is a secondary repair ability and may not be performed if you are carrying a toolkit. Stacks.

 _They listen for the generators hum. Keep it quiet if you want to survive._

 _-Vigo's Journal  
_


	3. Alive

I awoke, lying on my side on the fog covered ground.

For the second time, I wondered how that was possible. At least this time, I had at least some of my memory. I could remember the monster, a large humanoid, with his invisibility granting bell that had crushed my back, impaled me on the hook, and left me to get eaten by the spider out of time and space.

I sat up. I may have been alive, but there was... some part of me missing, I could feel it. The spider had taken something from me, and I wasn't sure what it was. Not my memory, that had already gone missing, but something far more personal and vital. But... I couldn't put my finger on what, exactly, had been taken. I seemed intact, uninjured. I picked myself up, and my legs supported my weight.

And, once again, I had no idea where I was. It wasn't the auto yard where I was before. I could see trees, but to scattered to properly be called 'woods'. It even felt different, less oppressive, if only slightly. I looked up towards the heavens, trying to get a sense of night or day. But I couldn't see the sky, only an impenetrable fog. It was light enough to see, but only barely.

I could have waited, to sit down until someone found me. But, in this place, I had no idea if that was even possible. So I picked a direction and started to walk, picking my way carefully through the trees and fog.

There was no sound, no birds, no woodland animals, not even the sound of wind rustling through the branches. The only noise was the sound of my feet thudding against the hard packed dirt on the ground. I had never done very well with silence – I was pretty sure of that – and only after a few minutes I started to call out in the fog. "Claudette? Ace? Kate?"

There was no reply.

One thing kept coming back to my mind as I wandered. When I'd been put on that hook, the whole world had momentarily burned in fire. That had to have been some memory of my normal life. Where had that memory had come from? Had I been in a burning building? If I had, why? Was I dead? Was this an afterlife? Was there something I'd done to deserve it?

I walked for what I thought was hours, calling out every few moments, trapped in these thoughts, pushing my way through the mists of this fresh unknown hell. There had to be something out here somewhere. There had to be an ending somewhere. Eventually, through the fog, I saw something glinting. I reached down, feeling a metal handle. I pulled it from where it was obscured by a shrub, and found a metal box, any cover completely faded by time. It was latched shut, but it was easy enough to open up.

I was hoping for food, some type of instruction of how I got here. Something... anything. What I found was... junk. Springs, wires, cogs (or perhaps sprockets) and absolutely nothing that I had any use for.

Well, it was a neat box at least. I latched it back up, and continued to move through the fog, calling out once again. A short time after I found the box, I could hear someone else calling out to me. "Hey! I'm over here!"

As I approached, I could hear the sound of running water. And then... I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Claudette, she was sitting on the bank of a bubbling brook. It had to be the most normal thing I'd seen since I'd woken up in the auto yard. With bright green grass on either side, it really didn't look like it fit in with the rest of the... well.. world.

"Michael, how are you doing?" Claudette asked, concerned.

I sat down across from her, setting down the metal box. "I'm so confused," I admitted. "I thought I was dead. But I'm not. Why?"

"Here, even death is no escape," Claudette said, sighing. "And no, I don't know where we are either. I've been through so many of those 'Trials' where we first met. It's always the same. There will be four of us in there, trapped. There are unpowered exit gates that we can only open if we turn on five generators first."

"And we're hunted by the creature that can turn invisible?" I asked.

"By... something. There's several of them, but never more than one at a time," Claudette explained. "There's a woman who hurls axes, the large man and his traps, and a nurse that can teleport," she stopped at that last one, and I could see the fear in her eyes. "I hate her so much."

I looked at her, listening to the babbling of the stream. "What about that other thing?" I asked finally.

"What other thing?" she asked.

"That... spider..." I began. I didn't even want to remember it.

"We just call it the entity. It is, as far as I know, in control of this place. It chooses us for the trials. Then it kills us on the hooks, or if the trial breaks down."

"Breaks down?" This was just getting better and better.

Claudette gave me a wry smile. "You'll know it when it starts to happen, it takes time for it to break down the trial. Use it wisely."

"How do we get out of this place?" I asked. I suspected I wouldn't like the answer.

"Nobody knows," Claudette said grimly. "We're all looking. I've seen so many people in the trials. Occasionally, I've met people outside of them, like you."  
It wasn't that it was a lot to take in, but it sounded pretty hopeless.

"That may sound hopeless, but none of us have given up," Claudette said. Okay, so my thoughts must have bled onto my face. "Someone, Dwight, I think, suggested that if we were ever to truly give up then we would be changed into one of the beasts. Set to hunt those who hadn't given up. So, promise me you won't give up, Michael."

"I'll do my best," I promised, taking a deep breath.

"Do you remember any more about what happened before you came here?" Claudette asked me. "What's Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, anyway? I don't think I'd heard of it."

"A magical place for friends and family alike," I responded without thinking about it. "It was a family pizza restaurant. There were four animatronic mascots, Bonny, Chica, Foxy, and of course Freddy himself." Wait, was that it? I mean, I was wearing their security guard uniform, was that the restaurant I had been hired to build for Henry? Must have been. "I must have worked there." I finally told her.

"Huh. Like Chuck E Cheese's... but fewer rats," she mused. She thought for a second, then unclipped a pouch from her belt. "Michael... I'd like you to take this. It's got healing supplies in it. I don't know how, but it never seems to run out. If you get hurt out there, use this to stop the bleeding. It'll still sting like hell though."

"Thanks!" I said, taking the pouch, clipping it onto my uniform. "Don't you need it, though?"

She looked at me with a sideways glance, then said, "I always just make more. I recognize some of the herbs out here, so I'll just restock. Don't worry about it."

I sat there, trying to piece together all of this. That I was trapped was almost too much to take. There was a way out. There had to be.

"Michael," Claudette said. I think she said it three times before she actually got my attention. "Fog's rolling in." She was right. The brook was almost obscured by a low rolling fog, and it was building quickly. "Another trial is about to start. Michael, take your tool box! Quick! And... good luck."

"Claudette?" I asked, grabbing the tool box from the ground.

There was no reply.

"Claudette?!" I shouted.

I leaped to my feet, feeling my way to where Claudette had been a second ago, but she wasn't there. I stumbled through the fog, which by now was impenetrable. I thought I was going to land in the creek, but instead, I stumbled out of the fog into what appeared to be a campfire circle.

There were three other people there, a young Asian woman, wearing what looked to be sporting wear, though I didn't recognize the team that was advertised on her shirt. There was a slightly older, and much taller, dark skinned male, wearing what I thought was a doctor's long coat. The last one was an older woman, wearing a a bloody suit over a red blouse. We looked from one to the other of us. "Hi?" I said. "I'm Michael."

They just stared at each other for a moment, a weariness in their eyes. They met my gaze, and nodded, a weary smile on each of their faces, and introduced themselves as Feng, Adam, and Jane. As they finished, Feng put up her hand. "It's coming." And as she spoke, we were engulfed in fog once more, my heart beating in my ears.

* * *

The fog faded, and I looked around. I had been transported again, and this time, I knew I had been to have been transported, because I was indoors. It was a dimly lit room, with a boarded up window of one side. The only light came from a bright neon light on one of the walls. A large table sat in the center, though there were no chairs to be seen. The metal 'toolbox' of scrap banged against my side.

I stared. This room, it felt familiar, and I wasn't sure why. Still, if this was a trial, there was no point to staying in one spot, that would be a great way to get myself back up on a meat hook. I hadn't seen one yet, but I was pretty sure I'd see one again soon.

I slipped down a short corridor into a similar looking small room. No table this time, but there was a set of large shelves empty shelves to one side. And there, in one corner, was a generator. There was only one problem, the generator was surrounded with black spider-like tentacles.

I stared at it. What did **that** mean? Other than I wasn't going to be repairing that generator anytime soon. So... I had to find a different one, I guess. I walked carefully out to the area creeping through another short hallway, past a large meathook, decorated with more flickering neon. At the end of it was a large room with several tables and a large protrusion – a stage, jutting out into it.

And on that stage were three of the four animatronics I had just told Claudette about. Freddie the bear, Chica the Chicken, and Bonnie the Bunny, though there was no sign of Foxy. I felt like they were staring at me... and while they didn't move from the stage, their large plastic eyes followed me to the generator right below the stage. This one wasn't entangled by the entity, so it was time to get to work.

I worked slowly and carefully, determined not to cause another explosion that would alert whatever was hunting us this time to my presence. Blue to blue, red to red, I muttered to myself. I stopped for a moment, looking around, was something nearby? I could hear footsteps echoing down the halls. But they receded instead of growing louder, and I went back to the work. Maybe that scrap was worth something after all. I found a few extra cogs and a couple of extension cords, which I could just plug in instead of threading the gaps, which made it go somewhat quicker.

It was when I had the green cord that felt it really should have gone to this green plug and didn't quite reach its destination that I felt it. An oppressive feeling that was restricting my progress, I shoved the green cord in a spot where it did get and, while I didn't make the generator explode, it tried. It sparked something fierce, and a few of the connections I had made fell out again, setting my progress back.

I was cursed. I could feel it.

More than I had been before, I mean.

* * *

 _Rare_ Michael Afton _Perk: Two Way Link_.

Any time a killer's perk would cause your aura to be revealed to the killer, you see the killer's aura for 3 seconds. This perk only activates once ever 90/75/60 seconds.

 _We're all trapped, we're all connected, even more then we know._


	4. Cursed

I stared at the generator, unsure of how to proceed. Was there a way to counter this? Or did I just have to muddle through it? I wasn't sure, so I went for the way I was sure was going to work (eventually). I went back on the generator, picking up the pieces that had fallen out and getting them back installed, then progressing slowly, cautiously, trying to keep the curse from forcing my hand.

Slow and steadiness worked, at least for a time. But the generator started behaving 'oddly'. It would shake things loose, it would have seemingly impossible connections, and every time I put something that was only nearly right together, it would spark something fierce.

But at least it didn't explode.

I stopped for a second to steady my nerves, watching as the two pistons pumped on the generator, with the third just starting to chug with them. Immediately after resuming work I heard the scream, it echoed through the mostly empty corridors of the pizzeria, completely confounding any attempt to figure out where it was coming from, or even who it was.

I swallowed, not wanting another encounter with "The Entity", and reattacked the generator with fresh vigor and purpose, I started watching for the tell tale shakes that signaled the weird movements and at least once, managed to keep anything from falling out.

After many false starts, I'd finally gotten the final pump cranking when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I let out a small shriek before managing to muffle myself.

It was the older woman in the blood stained business suit. Jane, that what she had said her name was."You've done a pretty good job on that, despite the hex," she whispered to me, moving to the other side of the generator to assist me in the repairing. I couldn't work as fast with her help as I did on my own, we had to stay out of each other's way, But it was still faster than working on it alone, even if the machine shook more violently now.

"Hex?" I asked.

"Have you not seen them yet?" she asked me. In contrast to Claudette's nervousness, Jane's voice was confident, if low pitched. Though I could still barely hear her over the crank of the pistons . "The totems? Little statues of bone, topped with skulls. There's some of them in every trial. Normally, they just sit there and look ugly," she said, making a connection that caused the whole generator to spark, dropping three other connections back out. "but sometimes there's a flame to them. Like a burning effigy that curses the entire trial. If you can find it, and take it apart," she gestured with her free hand. "This stops."

"Do you know what's hunting us?" I asked. "Claudette told me there's always something out there, and I heard a scream..."

"I'm not positive, but I think it's the Huntress. I'm pretty sure I heard her humming as I came over here." We both paused, trying to hold all off our connections in as the generator shook some more. She saw my inquisitive face and elaborated. "Giant of a woman, wears a mask shaped like a rabbit so you can't see her face. She has both throwing axes and this giant wood chopping axe. The only saving grace is she doesn't stop humming, so you can hear her a mile away."

"And she can't turn invisible," I said, remembering the bell wielding man from the previous trial.

"And she can't turn invisible," Jane said, allowing herself a very slight smile.

Just as the generator 'clinked' to full life, there was another scream. The red fallen form didn't surprise me as much as it did last time, but it still looked creepy. She looked up at the animatronics still watching us from the stage, then at me. "Thought they were going to come to life. If you do the rescue, I'll find the next generator. Keep your eye out for those totems and destroy them, even if they're not lit, okay? There's at least one hex that becomes live during the trial."

It made sense. "Okay, I will," I promised. "Good luck, Jane."

"Good luck, Michael." She frowned for a second, muttered something to herself, and stalked off. I headed off the other direction. I should have been stealthier and than I was, but the memory of being on that hook was far too fresh in my mind. I didn't run, but I wasn't trying to be quiet, either.

Luckily, my escapade to the occupied hook went unnoticed. It was the Asian girl, trying her best to remain still as the tentacles of the spider grew around her. "Come on," I whispered. "Let's get you down from there," I said. I had to work to lift her up and off that neon covered meat hook, but when I did, the spider legs demateralized, as if they had never been.

She paused for only a quick whispered "Thanks" before she took off. I paused briefly, fingering the herbs that Claudette had given to me. I could have used them, right? I followed her... and that's when I began to hear the humming. It was a haunting, almost hypnotic melody. I was probably about to hear it in my nightmares.

You know, if I ever went to sleep again.

Did I even still need to sleep? Was this hell?

I shoved the thought away, crouching behind a dining table. I could hear my heart beating in my ears along with the humming. A noise to my left almost made me jump out of my hiding spot. I could see, just in the hallway, the door to a closet being opened. The woman opening the closet was a massive beast of a woman, taller then most of the men that I'd seen. She reached in and grabbed a few axes, looking at the last one and put it away. But just before she left my sight she suddenly froze. I watched, dumbfounded, as she tilted her head with her eyes closed.

Was she listening to something?

She opened her eyes, and turned on her heel, her eyes scanning over the area, right at the table where I was hiding and past it.

Uhm... did she have... did she know?

She stalked in my direction, barely clearing the entrance from the longer hallway into the room without having to duck. She began a methodical search, checking every nook and cranny, pausing every so often to listen to... something that I couldn't hear. She was tapping a throwing axe in one hand, causing my heart to skip a beat each time she did so. I slipped around the table, trying to keep it between me and this huntress.

As she searched, she got more and more agitated, I felt absolutely sure she knew I was nearby, and finally, I couldn't stand it any more, I broke from my hiding spot, dashing into a hallway. I screamed as an axe connected, sharp end up, into my back. I leaped throw a window, and the chase was on.

And it wasn't like she was that far behind me.

One would think, if I was being chased through a restaurant that I'd previously worked in, that I would know all sorts of ways to escape my pursuer. But, although I was able to lead her on a decently long run (her hitting a window frame with her axe helped), I never actually lost her. Partially, it's because there wasn't any sense to these rooms (Okay, so I couldn't actually remember the original layout... but it still didn't seem right). The kitchen was near the exit (at least one of them), the main stage was on the other side of the building. It was like the whole place had been taken apart like legos and put back together in random order. She caught up to me in Pirates Cove, where an animatronic fox leered down at my broken and dying body.

"Thanks Foxy," I muttered as she lifted me onto her shoulder, still doing the same humming. She carried me, barely noticing my fighting and struggling, and put me on a now familiar hook. I screamed, loudly, as the metal pierced my flesh.

Once again, I could see the spider begin to pierce the boundary into reality. But this time, at least, I knew better to struggle. But I couldn't stop myself from whimpering in fear and in pain. I could see two of the others burning in my vision running around, while the third was kneeling on the ground working on... something, I couldn't tell what. A generator, I hoped.

I'm not sure how long I dangled from the hook before I was rescued. It felt like an eternity, But as the dark skinned man in the white doctor's coat lifted me off the hook, it was punctuated with what sounded like an explosion. I blinked, then stared at the younger man.

"They found the hex," Adam whispered. "She's coming back, we've got to move."

I nodded my understanding, and we split up again. I followed a corridor into the security office, with two exits. There was a generator in here, motionless. That was fine, it could stay that way for the moment. I sheltered under the security desk and opened the pouch that Claudette had given me, and began to rub the herbs into the axe wounds.

To my surprise my pain began to ease immediately. But it was slow going, the wound was deep and obstinate, and I knew that my hidey hole could be found at any moment. I kept working at it, and eventually the feeling of pain went away completely. And I still had plenty left.

Well. Nowhere like the present, I cleared my mind and started to work. As the first piston achieved maximum velocity and the second began to go, I heard the telltale 'clink', and saw the second generator light up in the distance. "Three to go," I mumbled to myself, and kept working.

Two pistons. Three pistons. I started hearing the humming as the fourth piston was almost at full speed. If she heard it... well, there were two doors right? I could run out the other one and buy my team some time.

This time, the clink of the generator was followed by a 'Slam!' of a metal door crashing down behind me, and I got that all too familiar feeling as my heart pounded in my ear. The lady hunter appeared in the doorway, and my exit was cut off.

This was going to hurt.

The first strike was quick, I tried to juke left, then break right, but she had me cornered and knew it. She was patient and struck me as I ran past her. The wound I'd been so patient healing opened right back up. I cried out in pain and fled down the corridor.

I, naturally, forgot she had throwing axes as well.

As I lay bleeding helplessly on the floor, the huntress paused to listen to the empty air again. She looked over her shoulder and seemed to come to a decision. That I was to go back on the hook. She hefted me up, still humming that weirdly relaxing yet stressful tune. I cried in protest, I pounded her rock hard shoulder.

There was no escaping her iron grip.

I screamed again as I was impaled. It almost drowned out the 'clink' of the fourth generator, which, I suppose, was one thing we had going for us. The huntress turned right around back the way she came, moving with purpose, and now I knew why. There was someone hiding just off the corridor I'd been chased through. I couldn't make out who, I was too busy struggling against the monster's impaling stinger.

I found out some seconds later. There had been someone not far away from my hiding place. She let out a scream, and then Jane appeared dashing down the corridor. I stared as she rushed past me, with the huntress in hot pursuit. I hoped to heaven that her flight would go better than mine did.

Spoiler alert: It didn't. I could see the red outline of her body bleeding through the wall. The other two yellow forms were together, working on a final geneator.

My grip was starting to slip when it clinked to life, and I heard a horn... and I saw through the walls the exit gates, bright yellow, fully powered, ready to let us out.

But it was not to be. As Adam finally came into my vision, my grip gave out, and I was once again a victim of the entity.

* * *

 _Rare Michael Afton Perk:_ Slam the Door _. After dropping a Pallet, break into a sprint of 150% your normal run speed for 5 seconds. This triggers exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds and will not activate if presently exhausted. If dropping the pallet stuns the killer, also leave no scratch marks for 5 seconds._

 _The best thing between you and the monsters is a thick piece of metal, but in a pinch, sturdy wood will work as well.  
_


	5. Fright

I awoke, again, in that silent, featureless forest. I was curled up almost into a ball. I could feel my face, pained and tear-stained.

But, once again, I couldn't remember any of it. Something had been... taken from me. Something had been ripped from me, and I couldn't remember what any of it was. I could remember nothing about what happened after I'd being impaled by the spider entity until I woke up again.

I sat for a while, just staring into the distance at nothing in particular. I wasn't tired, I wasn't particularly sad, I was just... kind of there. From what the others had said, this was just going to continue. Forever.

So... why? Why give the entity what it seemed to want? The entertainment of watching me run around to bleed at its pleasure, only to be consumed further? Why bother?

There was something about these thoughts that felt familiar, like I'd felt them before. I spent some time trying to figure out why that might be true. Why did this cycle of repetitive terror seem so recognizable, like I'd done it before?

It had something to do with Freddy Fazbear's, right? That's why I was wearing the security uniform, right? Was that why part of the last trial took place in some mockery of the restaurant?

I went around with those thoughts for some amount of time, not that I could tell how long I had sat thinking. There was no wildlife sounds, the sky was the dark of twilight. No matter how much time I'd spent, it didn't get any lighter or darker. When was the sun going to come up? Was it ever going to come up?

I sighed, and finally pushed myself to my feet. There was nothing to be gained from just lounging here. Maybe there wasn't anything to be gained by moving on either, but I guess I just wasn't ready to give up on everything just yet.

So I began to pick myself way through the forest again, hearing next to nothing. That perfect silence, marred only by my footsteps, was chilling. It just added to the sense that this was some sort of dead world. I started calling out for the various people I'd seen in the trials. The echoes of my voice reflected weirdly through the trees.

I couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be something out there in the wispy fog. Some sort of clue, or evidence, that would explain this world, how I – we – got here, and more importantly, how to leave. I'd only just started to move when I was distracted by a glint in the fog. When I reached down for it, I was rewarded with, of all things, a 'gold' Fazbear game token. The kind you used to play games that would reward tickets for cheap plastic prizes. How had _that_ gotten here? I pocketed the coin and started to walk.

I wandered for what felt like hours through the trees and fog, coming across nothing but the occasional small shrub and rock. Would I be called to another one of those trials again? I didn't know. I just pressed on, calling out for any of the humans that were here.

Finally, my calling was rewarded with an answering shout. It was a male voice, and I was so starved for human contact that I ran towards it, uncaring if it was a trap set by the monsters that also inhabited this place.

So, I was lucky, it wasn't.

It was a young man (just slightly younger than I was, I think), wearing a red PizzaWhat t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of thick glasses. A red ballcap covered short cut black hair. He gave me a wave, pushing his glasses up his nose to see me a bit better. After giving me a look over, and probably establishing that I was human, he smiled and held out his hand. "A newcomer to the fog," he told me. "Name's Dwight."

"Michael," I said, giving him a tired smile. "Yeah, I'm not sure how I got here."

"Nobody is, Michael," Dwight said, sitting down against a tree. "Last I knew, my boss made some moonshine, had me take the first sip, and it knocked me out cold. When I woke up, I was in one of the trials, hunted by a big lug with a chainsaw."

A chainsaw? I hadn't seen that yet. I hoped I wouldn't, though I was sure I would be wrong, eventually.

"Have you learned anything about the trials yet?" he asked me.

I went over the laundry list. Nurses who could teleport, bells that made people turn invisible. Pallets, totems and, of course, that you shouldn't struggle on that hook.

"All good things to know," Dwight said. "But there's something even more important. Teamwork. There's some twenty of us out there, but always only four in a trial. That's only four of us to do five generators, so be sure to help your fellows, get them down from the hooks, that kind of thing." He gave me a very tired smile. "Help me survive so I can help you survive."

This guy would have made good middle management some day.

We sat there, talking about a lot of things, the killers I hadn't seen yet, and the differences between Fazbear Pizza and PizzaWhat. "Fazbear Pizza came here?" asked Dwight. "I wonder... is there anything about it that attracted the entity's attention?"

That had a disturbing air of truth to it. But I just couldn't remember. There was something about the mascots. Paragraph four but... and it was **right there**. But it just wouldn't come from the tip of my mind. "I'm sorry, Dwight, I just don't remember anything about before I came," I said finally. "But... I think it sounds likely."

Dwight looked at me, I could tell there was a question he wanted to ask, but he just sighed, frustrated. Then, after a moment, he looked alarmed. "Michael, I think we're being called to another trial. Stand up, quick."

I could see it, the growing fog, just like it did the last time. Again, I started I calling Dwight, but he disappeared as the fog grew thick and I found myself, again, around that nightmarish camp fire. Dwight was there too. There were again, two woman. One, was a young, blond hair woman with short cut jeans and sparking blue eyes, the other was a hard looking woman, with dark hair highlighted with pink streaks, looking at me through narrowed eyes.

"Here we go again," Dwight said loudly. "Work as a team, good luck."

I felt the token in my pocket, and in a move I will never be able to explain, took it out and threw it into the fire. I expected it to sit there in the crackling flames, but instead, it burned away in black smoke.

And the fog covered my vision.

* * *

When I could see again, at first I thought I was back in Fazbear's Pizzeria. I could hear the sound of child like laughter in the halls. But this was not the Fazbear's I remembered. Instead of pizza tables, the places was littered with boxes of discarded animatronic costumes. There were arcade games, flickering with static (and next to one, I noted, the tied up macabre skull and bones of a totem), and above them, a security camera sat stationary, looking right at me.

I looked left and right to verify my position (and that nobody else was near me), and started with what felt like the obvious choice. The totem was wrapped with barbed wire, and as careful as I tried to be, I couldn't avoid scratching myself on the wire. Every time I got scratched, I emitted a small cry of pain, it was a wonder I wasn't bleeding by the time I was finished dismantling it.

After several seconds, it finally snapped a part, with the bones clattering on the ground. I stood up, and began slowly sneaking through the halls of what appeared to be a horror mock up of the pizza place I remembered. Lights flickered sporadically, and I swear I saw a ghostly image of Freddy Fazbear stalking down a hall before disappearing through a wall.

My head started to hurt. I had been here before, and I couldn't place when.

But I couldn't dwell on that. There had to be generators, because there were always generators. I finally found one, sitting near a poster board full of what would have (at first glance) appeared to be children's thank you cards, about the great day they had at Freddy's, but always with a dark twist to them. The primary example was the picture of prize corner with a large marionette giving presents to the kids... at least until you realized the kids were dead. At least that's what I thought the halos meant.

I sat there working on the generator, and about jumped out of my skin as a human shaped yellow glow appeared, and raced towards me around a corner. I nearly screamed when Dwight appeared around the corner, before sagging in relief.

"You okay?" Dwight asked as he joined me in getting the generator to life.

"I... I saw you, through the wall," I managed to spit out. "How did I do that?"

"I don't know. It's something that I've been able to do since I got here," Dwight told me. "Maybe something I said rubbed off on you."

"Do you know who the killer is?" I asked.

"No, I haven't seen anyone but you yet."

Fine. We focused on the generator as a scream echoed through the halls. Dwight redoubled his efforts, making connections in that generator like a madman, as if needing to prove he was better than I was. The scream of our fallen teammate timed with the clink of our generator turning on.

"I've got her," he whispered. "Find the next one."

I nodded silently, and went off the other direction. But this area was confusing, and the first time I thought I saw the flashing lights of a generator, it turned out to be the blinking light of a security camera panning slowly in the hall.

But there was a generator not far away, so I started working. About the time the second piston had started to pump, I could feel the tension rise. Something was near, so I started creeping into a hallway. But I stopped, I could feel something staring at me.

I felt my heart stop as I saw the Golden Bonnie, through glass that separated the security office from the hall. There were rotted tears in the costume, through which I could see decomposing flesh. The animatronics eyes met mine, and for a moment, neither of us moved.

"Father?" I asked.

Because I **remembered.**

I remembered _everything._

* * *

 _Stop The Clock: Rare_ The Mascot _perk._

 _You have passed a rudimentary understanding of technology to the entity. When you break a generator, it will become blocked by the entity for 5/10/15 seconds, after which it will begin regressing normally._

 _It is never Six AM here.  
_


	6. Promise

I remembered everything, from the first job at Fazbear and Friends, to Fazbear's Fright, to being hired by Henry to round up all remaining animatronics in a single trap so they could be melted and their souls released. I remember sitting at my computer in that small office as the temperature rose, with no way out. Henry's voice had taken over the loudspeaker, explaining to the still roaming animatronics exactly what had happened, what was happening, and apologizing to me for having no way out.

I was going to die there, but that was okay. I should have died in the basement of Circus's Baby Pizza, if not even before that. Maybe I even had. But the Entity had other plans for us, and had brought both of us, and some unholy replica of the Fazbear franchise along for the ride.

Did my father remember any of this?

Did he remember me?

Springtrap gave no sign that he did. He had already moved from the hallway, and was coming for me. The heartbeat I was hearing my ears told me that, so I beat feet. Through the hallways of Fazbear fright I was chased and struck. He didn't even use a weapon, just reached back and punched me.

After another short chase I was, again, face down, bleeding on the ground with a crazed killer looking down on me, ready to turn me into a pincushion. I struggled, as I always did, but it was ineffective, as it always was.

I screamed as the hook pierced my body. I could see the others, working on various generators throughout Fazbear fright. As I watched, I saw Springtrap move to a wall and activated a wall camera. Then his eyes closed just for a moment, and he turned towards one of the generators, and walked out of sight.

He was using the cameras... he was tracking us through the cameras.

Great.

I wanted to warn the others, but there was no way to do it from it the hooks. So I dangled, crying in pain, as the Entity's murderous legs broached reality and began to twitch in anticipation. I continued to to whimper in pain. But before the Entity completely broach and thrust that stinger into me, the blond haired woman slipped into the room, and hauled me off the hook.

I ran to the camera and reached up to it... it took several seconds, far longer then it took for Springtrap to turn it on, to turn it off. The blond woman stared at me, comprehension dawning on her face. She pointed out of the room, and we ran from the hook I'd been hanging on.

"Let me patch you up," the woman said. "Michael, right?" she asked.

I wasn't sure that was my name anymore. In fact, I'm pretty sure that, at some point, my name was something else. Candace, maybe? That may be true, but I didn't want to try to explain that right now. "Michael," I agreed.

"I'm Kate Denson. Pleased to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances." She had taken strips of cloth and was binding the bruise that Springtrap had given me. It felt better when she was done, and there was the telltale 'clink' of a second generator activating. Maybe this was going better then ones previously.

"I saw a generator on the way to you," Kate said pointing. "Let's get it."

That generator turned out to be in the security office, where Springtrap had begun his hunt for me. After scanning for cameras, we started work on the third generator. "Wait," I said, pointing, "are those stairs?" I remembered Fazbear's Fright pretty well, and I knew there was no lower level, not even as a backstage for employees.

"The basement, it's got hooks down there. There's always one in a trial, somewhere." Kate told me. "It's risky to get people out of it, but there's always something down there, sometimes its even worth getting." She looked conflicted for a second. "Actually, it's probably safe for the moment, why don't you go down and see what you find? It can only help us."

I looked at the generator, I would have rather continued to work on it, but I was now curious what kind of helpful thing might be down in the basement. So I got up from the generator, and walked down to the stairs, into the creepy basement. The first thing I saw was the quartet of hooks, one for each of us. I steadied my never and continued to look, seeing the lockers, and then, the box.

Inside the box was a lot of junk, unusable pieces of broken weaponry, knicknacks, old portraits, and the like. But, as I sifted through it, at the bottom of the pile was a medkit. It looked like one that would have been kept in the Fazbear security office, in case something happened to one of the guests during working hours.

That could come in handy... but what was it doing there?

Rather than dwell in the gift horse, I began to head to the stairs only to hear that now familiar heartbeat. Quietly, I slipped into one of the lockers as Springtrap, carrying a struggling Kate, clambored down the stairs and impaled her on the hook. He closed his eyes again, probably tapping into the camera system, and headed back up the stairs with purpose.

I wait for the heartbeat to fade, then pulled myself out of the locker. I went to help Kate off the hook, but she waved me off. "No! He's still nearby. He'll know if you rescue me. Go upstairs and repair that generator... just don't finish it and alert him."

I stared at her, then went up to look up at the generator. It was covered with black spider claws, blocking me from attempting to repair the generator. I didn't want to leave it and Kate though, so I crouched down behind it, making sure there was no camera recording me.

After several seconds, the claws retracted, and the generator began to spark, the connections falling out. I took a second to stabilize the thing, and make sure it was ready to be repaired. Then I went down to get Kate off the hook. This time, she didn't protest, and we raced back upstairs to finish the generator.

With a clink, it turned on. Three down, two to go. We went slipped back toward the original hook where we'd hidden the first time, and this time, it was my turn to heal Kate, wrapping her wounds with the medkit I'd found. We heard a scream in the distance. Springtrap had found someone else.

By mutual agreement we split up. We didn't know where the last two generators were, and we'd have a better chance of finding at least one of them if we went looking in different places. Through the twisted hallways I searched... this place was bigger than I thought. All the while, I kept a lookout for cameras. Many of them were active at this point, and that made getting around tricky. Did he have to focus to access them, or did he have some way of tapping into them constantly?

In one corner of the building, against two walls, I found the fourth generator. One piston was very slightly moving. Someone had started repairs, but abandoned it almost immediately. Well, time to finish what had been started.

The person went on the hook on the other side of the building. I mean, the complete opposite corner. I had to make a judgment call. There were still two other people that could get them down, right? Both of them closer than I was, right?

I felt callous. I felt cruel, I felt like a horrible human being only out for themselves. But I resisted the urge, and continued to work on that generator. We needed them done. I had to tell myself that. If we didn't get the generators done, none of us would be walking out of here. So I worked on, seeing that blood red body struggle against the entity in the corner of my vision. They weren't dead yet. This generator was don't done yet. Which would happen first?

Neither, as it turned out. Someone did rescue our teammates from the hook, which caused me a big sigh of relief. I didn't know if I'd have been able to live with myself if they'd died on that hook while I was finishing here.

What I wasn't expecting is that a fourth generator would spring to life, just moments before I finished mine. For a moment, I stared at the generator wondering what I was supposed to do next. That was five, right? The exits were open? How could we...

Then a horn blared, and I could see the gates, outlined in yellow, bleeding through a wall. It lasted only for a few seconds before disappearing from my sight.

Ah.

For the first time, I felt like I was going to get out. But I couldn't stay here. I started creeping toward the closest door. But before I got there, I felt the tell tale terror of the Springtrap. I could see the rotted bunny head turning this way and that. I must have passed through a camera's field of vision. But he didn't know where I was. I maneuvered slowly, stealthily, trying to keep the box of animatronic parts between me and him. I wasn't daring to breath.

Was he going to see me?

No, he went back the same way he came. Phew.

I took a deep gasping breath, counted three seconds in my head, and bolted in the other direction for several seconds before stopping. The door. Which way was the other door? I wasn't sure. The wall, if I found the wall, I could find the door.

But before I could get there, a low, loud, ringing sound echoed through Fazbear's Fright, and the ground was suddenly riddled with burning orange cracks, like the building was coming apart.

Claudette's words about the trial breaking down came back to me in a hurry. Since the trigger point wasn't the final generator being turned on, I decided it must have been because one of the doors had been opened.

I went running, scrambling through a window, no longer caring how much noise I was making, I finally found the exit I'd be hunting for, but it was locked tight. I gave up on that and went back the other way. But just as a second gong echoed through the building, and the cracks got a little wider, I saw another totem... this one was burning.

I didn't know what it did. but I didn't want to leave it there. As quickly as I could, I unwrapped the barbed wire, my small cries of pain were nothing against the shaking in the walls. When I got the last loop undone, a crack of thunder echoed throughout what was left of Fazbear's fright, and I was off and running again.

I heard a cry of pain, and ran towards it. Yes. There! The exit... I could see Dwight on the other side of it, limping into the forest, and between me and him was Springtrap, held in by something I couldn't see.

Well, if that was the case... I burst towards the exit, charging forward to the safety that lay beyond the monster. Springtrap turned toward me, and for a moment, I saw the human eyes behind the Animatronic's. The dead eyes of my father, staring back at me, entirely without emotion. As I ran by, he took a swipe at me, staggering me, but not managing to stop me.

As I ran through the exit into the forest beyond, I made a promise to myself, to the world. Not only would I figure out a way to end the entity's hold on us, I would find a way to send Springtrap – William Afton – _my father_ – on. Whether the powers would give him a chance to be redeemed in heaven, or if the deepest pit of hell was really waiting for him, it was time for him to stop killing.

And this time, even he wouldn't come back.

* * *

 _Fazbear and Friends brochure. Uncommon The Mascot Add-On. The memory of the first restaurant has spurred your need to kill those who would get in your way. Begin the trial with three extra cameras active._


End file.
